Wow, I cannot believe how this series of articles on drug addicts has taken off in the jail. Here is another poem or song lyrics if one could call Rap music. This inmate’s choice of drug is methamphetamine. The drug users call it tweaking and thus they are called Tweakers. This is the drug that causes teeth to rot and fall out. The before and after mug shots are downright gruesome. The Tweaker will pick at their skin, seeing imaginary bugs crawling on them. This is the group who see shadow people who aren’t really there.
I have had to clean up some of the words to be suitable for a family newspaper. This inmate may not admit it, but he is trying to bulk up by doing a lot of exercises in the work out area possibly to fight off the Tweaker image of a super thin, emaciated addict who does not care about personal hygiene, only worrying about where the next fix is coming from and how to pay for it. So here is his personal song.
THE DARK REALITY OF LIFE BEHIND BARS
I can’t believe it’s the life I live
I wanna lay under the moon
Stare at the stars
I would love to hear the world movin
I can’t believe I’m here
But I’m on this bus
I’ve done paid the fare
Ten o’clock lights out
Misdemeanor judges handing prison terms now
My fate in the hands of a jerk
I let my life come to this
Tired of crying over spilled milk
So sick of misery
Thought meth was the end of me
Had me tweakin and geekin
Not sleepin or eatin
Homeless now
Nowhere to go when I get out
In my mind I’m so lonely
In my heart I’m so cold
My pain is sickening
Heart is killing me
I’m so disappointed
So tired of me
Ready to be the man my babies need me to be
Stop the lifestyle I was living
Love the chance I’m givin
Thank you GOD
Here I come heaven
Back when the Ohio Legislature enacted a 5th degree felony, the idea was that the Misdemeanor Judges were given the opportunity to keep a drug addict in the County Jail. This in theory would keep the State Prison System available for more serious drug felons.
With the new felony degree a drug possession charge would carry up to 18 months in the county jail. This is what this inmate is writing about when he states misdemeanor judges are handing out prison terms now.
I have purposely kept my opinion to myself throughout this series. I want the public to hear what the drug addicts are thinking, in their own words without judgement or influence on you my readers or the addicts themselves.
As in my police career, my job was to investigate, document the findings and provide them to the prosecutor and jury in the most impartial way I could. This is no different. I certainly give opinions in other articles but I feel for the inmates to truly confide in me, I must remain impartial. On a weekly basis I come into the jail and have new inmates ask me about the articles and I have to print a new batch for them to read.
When my editor tells me enough with the drug series or I feel I am just repeating what I have already written I will go on to more police related. In a way though I feel we as police officers deal with these addicts regularly and it is a good idea to maybe get a glimpse of what they are thinking. Be safe my brothers and sisters who guard the Thin Blue Line.
